*After this, Tobias isn't gonna get any more chapters... you'll see why at
the end of the story (((*
TOBIAS TIME!!
I wasn't in the best mood. I was perched on Rachel's shoulder, aching to stretch my wings, but unable to fly because the tunnel was too cramped. Last night, I hadn't gotten any sleep thanks to some creepy dreams that had relentlessly hounded me. And now, my friends and I were stuck in some strange place, walking underground to God-knows-where, following some messed-up Iskoort, who, only a little while ago, had wanted us dead.
It was not the best day.
"No way." Cassie stopped walking, and her mouth fell open. Her voice broke into my thoughts. I followed her gaze, and the reason she had been startled suddenly became very apparent.
Only a few feet ahead of us lay what looked like a completely different world. Where the other Iskoort world had been crazy, multi-colored, and irrationally assembled, this place was logically assembled. It looked like a lot of boring business-suited accountants and stock-brokers had gotten together and made this place. All the steps were perfectly even with each other, each house and door exactly the same, all a dull gray color. And even more amazing, there were masses of Iskoort milling around everywhere. All these Iskoort stopped and stared at us as we came in.
"No-freakin-way," Marco gasped.
"Wait a minute. Why aren't they running up to us and asking us to buy and sell things like they did last time we came?" Cassie asked in a tone low enough for only us to hear.
Guide noticed our shocked expressions. {We managed to build a smaller replica of our world underground. Now all Iskoort reside here. We used different techniques when building. That is why the buildings are slightly different from those on the surface.}
"Slightly different?" Marco muttered.
"Guide, why does everyone live here and not up there?" Jake questioned. Before Guide could answer, a short, stocky Iskoort came up to him. The two must have talked, because Guide turned to us a minute later and said, {Rafe requests that you follow him.} Then in supposedly private thought-speak, Guide told us, {Rafe is the sole member left of the Story-telling and All- Knowing Guild. Also, he had been known to possess...powers. It would do you good to listen to him.}
All-knowing? What exactly did Rafe know? I wondered these thoughts to myself.
We turned to follow Rafe and he led us into a house. The gazes of the Iskoort followed us as we entered the house.
"Okay, this is only a little bit weird," Marco told us once the door was closed. Jake nodded imperceptibly, than turned to Rafe. "Excuse me, Rafe? Do you think you could explain to us what's going on?"
Rafe turned around and faced us. {I will tell you a story.}
"Yay! Story time!" Marco said brightly. Jake shot him a look.
"What is the story about?" Jake asked. I think he, like the rest of us, already knew.
{I will tell you the story of how we became like this.} Rafe settled down in his chair, and looked into our eyes. He began his tale.
{I know you. I know each of you. Jake, the leader. Rachel, the warrior. Marco, the questioner. Aximili, the cadet. Cassie, the gentle. Tobias, the trapped.} He made eye contact with each of us in turn.
{I know why you are here. I know what you want. And I shall tell you the story.} He shifted once more in his chair, and once more stared intensely at us.
{After you left, we flourished. We were left, unharmed, for many years. Than, suddenly, a problem arose. We discovered that many Iskoort were being taken away and killed for no reason. For this reason, we started to build this underground world. And that is why we are as we are today.}
We were all a little startled. I think that we had all been expecting a much longer and more complicated explanation.
{At times, we send someone up to the surface to check to see if any help has come. For we have become restless here. None of the Guilds is able to complete his job. And, lately we have discovered that staying underground is not healthy for the Iskoort. It causes us to become ill. For these reasons, we need your help to clear the surface land of our enemies, of the things who have hunted and killed us.}
"What about us? We need help also."
{Yes. I am aware of your predicament. I believe that we can come to an agreement. There may be a way to send you home. If allowed the supplies that are above ground, we could almost guarantee a way to send you back to your own land. }
"Oh, so pretty much you're saying that you would help us, but only as long as we help you first," Marco said.
Rafe said nothing.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice," Jake said, a pained expression on his face. "It's either help them or never get home."
We were all silent as we considered being stuck with the Iskoort forever.
"Okay, I'm all for helping them," Marco said quickly.
{Wait,} I said. {What exactly are we fighting against?} We looked over at Rafe.
{I do not know.}
"Aren't you part of the all-knowing people? Shouldn't you know this?" Marco said in an accusing tone.
Rafe was quiet once more.
"I don't know," Cassie said hesitantly. "There are too many unanswered questions. We don't know who we're fighting against. We don't know if they can truly send us home. We don't know why Guide was carrying a gun. We don't know why we're here, and how we ended up here. It seems kind of risky to just go along and do this without even knowing exactly what we're doing."
What she said made sense.
{There does not seem to be any other option,} Ax pointed out.
"He's right," Rachel said.
It felt like we were missing something. I couldn't figure out just what we were missing, but we were definitely skipping over something.
I studied Rafe. He sat there, calmly waiting, like he already knew what we were going to say. Maybe he did know. After all, he had known who we were. And what our problem was. But how could he know all that but still not know who our enemy was. How did we know for certain that Rafe wasn't our enemy?
Rafe turned his eyes to meet mine. He stared at me intensely, his gaze not faltering. It felt like he knew what I was thinking. {No, I am not your enemy, Tobias the trapped.}
I flapped my wings suddenly, startled by the quiet thought-speak voice in my head. Everyone else turned to stare at me. "What's wrong?" Cassie asked.
{Nothing, I'm fine,} I told them. I perched again on Rachel's shoulder, refusing to look in Rafe's direction.
But somehow, I felt as if there was a power...or a force, telling me, urging me, to look back in Rafe's direction. It felt like it wasn't possible to resist. As if in a trance, I turned to look back at him.
Rafe's eyes seemed to be on fire. They burned into mine, enthralling me. I couldn't look away, and it felt as if everything but those entrancing eyes was slowly, slowly, fading away...
TOBIAS TIME!!
I wasn't in the best mood. I was perched on Rachel's shoulder, aching to stretch my wings, but unable to fly because the tunnel was too cramped. Last night, I hadn't gotten any sleep thanks to some creepy dreams that had relentlessly hounded me. And now, my friends and I were stuck in some strange place, walking underground to God-knows-where, following some messed-up Iskoort, who, only a little while ago, had wanted us dead.
It was not the best day.
"No way." Cassie stopped walking, and her mouth fell open. Her voice broke into my thoughts. I followed her gaze, and the reason she had been startled suddenly became very apparent.
Only a few feet ahead of us lay what looked like a completely different world. Where the other Iskoort world had been crazy, multi-colored, and irrationally assembled, this place was logically assembled. It looked like a lot of boring business-suited accountants and stock-brokers had gotten together and made this place. All the steps were perfectly even with each other, each house and door exactly the same, all a dull gray color. And even more amazing, there were masses of Iskoort milling around everywhere. All these Iskoort stopped and stared at us as we came in.
"No-freakin-way," Marco gasped.
"Wait a minute. Why aren't they running up to us and asking us to buy and sell things like they did last time we came?" Cassie asked in a tone low enough for only us to hear.
Guide noticed our shocked expressions. {We managed to build a smaller replica of our world underground. Now all Iskoort reside here. We used different techniques when building. That is why the buildings are slightly different from those on the surface.}
"Slightly different?" Marco muttered.
"Guide, why does everyone live here and not up there?" Jake questioned. Before Guide could answer, a short, stocky Iskoort came up to him. The two must have talked, because Guide turned to us a minute later and said, {Rafe requests that you follow him.} Then in supposedly private thought-speak, Guide told us, {Rafe is the sole member left of the Story-telling and All- Knowing Guild. Also, he had been known to possess...powers. It would do you good to listen to him.}
All-knowing? What exactly did Rafe know? I wondered these thoughts to myself.
We turned to follow Rafe and he led us into a house. The gazes of the Iskoort followed us as we entered the house.
"Okay, this is only a little bit weird," Marco told us once the door was closed. Jake nodded imperceptibly, than turned to Rafe. "Excuse me, Rafe? Do you think you could explain to us what's going on?"
Rafe turned around and faced us. {I will tell you a story.}
"Yay! Story time!" Marco said brightly. Jake shot him a look.
"What is the story about?" Jake asked. I think he, like the rest of us, already knew.
{I will tell you the story of how we became like this.} Rafe settled down in his chair, and looked into our eyes. He began his tale.
{I know you. I know each of you. Jake, the leader. Rachel, the warrior. Marco, the questioner. Aximili, the cadet. Cassie, the gentle. Tobias, the trapped.} He made eye contact with each of us in turn.
{I know why you are here. I know what you want. And I shall tell you the story.} He shifted once more in his chair, and once more stared intensely at us.
{After you left, we flourished. We were left, unharmed, for many years. Than, suddenly, a problem arose. We discovered that many Iskoort were being taken away and killed for no reason. For this reason, we started to build this underground world. And that is why we are as we are today.}
We were all a little startled. I think that we had all been expecting a much longer and more complicated explanation.
{At times, we send someone up to the surface to check to see if any help has come. For we have become restless here. None of the Guilds is able to complete his job. And, lately we have discovered that staying underground is not healthy for the Iskoort. It causes us to become ill. For these reasons, we need your help to clear the surface land of our enemies, of the things who have hunted and killed us.}
"What about us? We need help also."
{Yes. I am aware of your predicament. I believe that we can come to an agreement. There may be a way to send you home. If allowed the supplies that are above ground, we could almost guarantee a way to send you back to your own land. }
"Oh, so pretty much you're saying that you would help us, but only as long as we help you first," Marco said.
Rafe said nothing.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice," Jake said, a pained expression on his face. "It's either help them or never get home."
We were all silent as we considered being stuck with the Iskoort forever.
"Okay, I'm all for helping them," Marco said quickly.
{Wait,} I said. {What exactly are we fighting against?} We looked over at Rafe.
{I do not know.}
"Aren't you part of the all-knowing people? Shouldn't you know this?" Marco said in an accusing tone.
Rafe was quiet once more.
"I don't know," Cassie said hesitantly. "There are too many unanswered questions. We don't know who we're fighting against. We don't know if they can truly send us home. We don't know why Guide was carrying a gun. We don't know why we're here, and how we ended up here. It seems kind of risky to just go along and do this without even knowing exactly what we're doing."
What she said made sense.
{There does not seem to be any other option,} Ax pointed out.
"He's right," Rachel said.
It felt like we were missing something. I couldn't figure out just what we were missing, but we were definitely skipping over something.
I studied Rafe. He sat there, calmly waiting, like he already knew what we were going to say. Maybe he did know. After all, he had known who we were. And what our problem was. But how could he know all that but still not know who our enemy was. How did we know for certain that Rafe wasn't our enemy?
Rafe turned his eyes to meet mine. He stared at me intensely, his gaze not faltering. It felt like he knew what I was thinking. {No, I am not your enemy, Tobias the trapped.}
I flapped my wings suddenly, startled by the quiet thought-speak voice in my head. Everyone else turned to stare at me. "What's wrong?" Cassie asked.
{Nothing, I'm fine,} I told them. I perched again on Rachel's shoulder, refusing to look in Rafe's direction.
But somehow, I felt as if there was a power...or a force, telling me, urging me, to look back in Rafe's direction. It felt like it wasn't possible to resist. As if in a trance, I turned to look back at him.
Rafe's eyes seemed to be on fire. They burned into mine, enthralling me. I couldn't look away, and it felt as if everything but those entrancing eyes was slowly, slowly, fading away...